This new Journal, starting with volume 1, number 1, Spring 1985, is an official publication of the World Association for Emergency and Disaster Medicine (WAEDM), formerly called the Club of Mainz. The Journal is cosponsored by the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (LRCS). The Journal is owned and published by the WAEDM. There will be 4 Journal numbers per year, plus an occasional supplement.

We initiated this Journal and its predecessor (see below) because existing journals on disasters focus on sociologic and epidemiologic topics, and more on aid to uninjured survivors and rehabilitation of disaster-stricken regions, than on the resuscitation and life support of severely injured victims. Disaster medicine is not yet a science, and thus based primarily on anecdotal reports. It is in need of international communication and the acquisition of quantifiable facts. The Journal will help meet these needs by examining the potentials of resuscitation, emergency medical care and critical care (intensive care) medicine for everyday Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and for disaster medicine. The disasters to consider range from multi-casualty incidents to mass disasters and endemic disasters. Other organizations emphasize response to mass disasters after days or weeks; the WAEDM emphasizes response within minutes to hours. This Journal will benefit medical and nonmedical members of the WAEDM and the LRCS, as well as non-member specialists in anesthesiology, critical care medicine, cardiology, emergency medicine, epidemiology, forensic medicine, government medicine, infectious diseases, military medicine, nuclear medicine, nutrition, pathology, public health, resuscitology, surgery, toxicology, and traumatology.